Leadership Caffeine™: 8 Ideas for Navigating Your Leadership Mistakes

Newsflash: all good leaders make mistakes. A great number of them. Everyday. After all, there are people involved, and this would be really easy without the people. Fortunately, people are all that we have. The true test of your leadership character isn’t measured by the number of mistakes you make, but rather, by what you do moving forward once a mistake is recognized. Here are 8 ideas for effectively learning from and navigating your leadership mistakes:

Leadership Caffeine™-12 Shots of Leadership Espresso

Sometimes the best leadership guidance comes in short, strong bursts flavored with a few blunt reminders. Warning: consume too many of these at one time and your team members will thank you, productivity will go up and work might become a lot more enjoyable. Here are 12 shots of Leadership Espresso to help you get it right:

Leadership Caffeine™-Get Invested in Developing Your New Leaders

I’ve yet to run a workshop or program on leadership where anything approaching a majority of the participants describe their initial days of their initial role as a team leader, supervisor or manager as a period when they received much if any support and coaching from their own direct manager. Most describe this particularly precarious professional time as more like a “hit and run.” That's unfortunate, because the flame-out rate for first-time leaders is high and the fallout on those around them heavy. Here are 8 ideas for you to strengthen your support of your first-time leaders:

Leadership Caffeine™-If You Want to Be a Critic, Go Watch a Movie

The Leader as Critic is one of the most toxic, idea-crushing characters you’ll ever find in the workplace. This individual mistakenly assumes that title confers a License to Kill (perceived bad ideas) and he/she takes pride in shooting down ideas to protect people and teams from themselves. Here are ideas to help you recognize whether you are the critic. And if you work for one, here are some coping strategies.

Leadership Caffeine™-Do You Have the Courage to Kill Your Business To Save It?

Fresh off of my recent podcast interview with Geoffrey Moore on his new book, "Escape Velocity-Free Your Company’s Future from the Pull of the Past," I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with my informal Board of Advisors (2 CEOs, 1 GM and 2 Consultants and all experienced leaders) on this very topic…building a new business while running the old one. With my thanks for their input and ideas, here are the highlights:

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